Today, I cheated. Yesterday, I imposed a self imposed media blackout and I wrote a diary about it link. I didn't want to receive any negative energy from the paid lobbyist ahem..I'm sorry pundits to prognosticate on the cable and network news shows about what these election results mean for President Obama. However, this morning I took a peek and of course it was exactly as a I predicted. One bit of news that I took away from all the chatter is that as much as folks want to talk about the self-inflicted woulds of the republican party i.e. NY23...the Democrats should be paying attention to the turnout rate of Democrats in these elections and asking themselves why didn't we turnout. Now, it is no secret that Democratic turnout in off year elections tend to be much less than a normal election cycle but these numbers seem pretty severe. My opinion on this is that the Democratic Party is self destructing by not living up to the party platform promises made during the election cycle of 2008.
The Democratic Party is reverting back to their former selves and back to Washington politics as usual to win elections. They seem to always want to out republican the republicans. The problem with that strategy is they never win by being republican light and running away from Democratic principles. President Obama did not win the election by being conventional or by being republican light. He ran on Change. Change from the staus quo and to shake up Washington. For those of you that don't remember the Democratic National Party platform in 2008 it was Renewing America's Promise. One of the following four principles were as follows:
Renewing the American Dream
Affordable, Quality Healthcare for All Americans
Retirement
Good Jobs with Good Pay
Work and Family
Poverty
Opportunity for Women
I think most of us understand that governing is a process. We don't expect the President and Congress to wave a magic wand and fix more than 30 years of systemic problems overnight. But, we do expect big changes. Not more "status quo" meaning compomising so much that the core principles that the election was won are neutered. Most of us bought into the theory that now is not a time for small incremental change but for bold and courageous leadership. There are other diaries out here today that go into detail of the compromises that I refer to so I won't repeat them. President Obama and Congress won a mandate 53% of the vote. Now what I expect and the folks who voted for them is for Congress and the President to govern as if they won the election.
I believe the President is working really hard and trying to make good decisions but I also believe the President is getting bad advice. Ingnoring the base of your party will always drive down turnout. I hope he starts to listen to that inner voice that gave him the Audacity to Hope.
Howard Fineman summed it up best last night on MSNBC as to what Democrats should be paying attention to:
The real story of the gubernatorial elections may be how the face of the electorate changed from 2008 to 2009. "This was a revolution in reverse, or a rebellion reverse in the sense that it was as much about people who didn't turn out in Virginia and maybe as much about people who don't turn out in New Jersey," said Fineman. "The Obama supporters didn't show up in anywhere near the numbers they did." Indeed, as Politico's Ben Smith pointed out, "this wasn't your president's electorate." In 2008, young voters were 21 percent of Virginia's electorate while yesterday, just 10 percent of voters were under the age of 30. Though youth turnout is always down in off-year elections, the fact that Virginia state senator Creigh Deeds ran away from core progressive priorities might explain why there was such a huge drop off
I work in an environment that is predominately Republican. No one is walking around this morning excited about the victories in NY and NJ. What they are saying to me is that they are mad at Republicans for what they've done and they are mad at Democrats for the promise they make and fail to do.
I hope yesterday was a wake-up call in aggressively tackling the Democratic Party Platform agenda and not a retreating into being Republican light. When Democrats are agressive and bold in their convictions we win and the country wins too.